*Sigh* CPU usage constantly at 30-45% for ekrn.exe - What's up?

Hi!

I'm running 3.0.642 on Windows XP SP2 and everything has been running fine until today. When I booted up my computer I felt it was unusually slow so I checked the task manager. Ekrn.exe was using 30-45% of my intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (2*3,0Ghz) and sometimes using up all 100%. This is still going on even if I don't have anything running on my computer, no on demand-scanner, no real time spyware etc - my computer is simply idling and copying any files etc.

What's causing this? I don't have advanced heuristics enabled.

Thanks!

PS. By the way - I haven't changed any settings in ESS at all lately

 

Hi!

Are you sure a computer wasn't taking place in the background ?




If this repeats , as a fast solution in such a moment , you can load the Task Manager and attempt to end task ekrn.exe . This will refresh and reload ESET's service and may fix your issue

 

Hi there!

Thanks for your reply!

I'm pretty sure since I don't have any scheduled scanes at all in ESS and my hdd was not reading any data either. I was really surprised when I saw your picture as I don't have "Running scans" at all here! This is really strange or am I missing something in the GUI?

[img=http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.83501ebd10.jpg]

 

"Running scans" only appears if a scan have been started and then this scan has been placed to background

 

Does the problem go away if you try to kill ekrn.exe via the task manager?

 

Marcos:

I tried killing ekrn.exe several times but no luck. The CPU was still hoovering around 30-45%. I tried restarting my machine and changing some configurations but nothing helped.

This morning I chose to uninstall and reinstall ESS and now itäs back to normal again for some reason...

 

Ok,once again the same problem is back...

Hitech_boy: I still don't have any background scans running

 

Does disabling the real-time/web protection or firewall make a difference?

 

Tried disable/enable all of them. Even tried several restarts of my system, still the same.

 

Any other ideas? It's still going on and my hdd is driving me crazy here

 

Could you create a full memory dump when ekrn spikes? The instructions are available here. Before you create a dump, enable creation of complete memory dumps in the system setup. Note that the more memory you have installed the larger dump will be created. If you manage to create a memory dump, zip it and then I can provide you access to our ftp where you can upload it.

 

Marcos:

After 4 hours it eventually stopped. ekrn.exe was going from 30-55% down to 10% and then hoovering at 0-2%. I figured ESS might have been running a full system scan without telling me, the user, so I rebooted and manually started one. That one took about 33 min so that couldn't be the case.

A few hours it started going back to 40-45% again! I read you post and made the changes to my system for a complete memory dump. XP asked me to reboot so I did, and now I'm sitting here and ekrn.exe is at 0%.

This truly is weird...

 

Ok, it started again after another restart...

I followed the instructions and tried to create a complete memory dump. I rebooted and searched for the dump-file as I couldn't find it. I searched for files bigger than 1gb and didn't find it on any of my hdds.

But I did find the ESS log-file. It was 1800Mb! In the settings I have set it to delete log files after 2 days and the optimization is also crossed. Could this be the reason for the hdd activity? ekrn.exe is trying to optimize a 1,8Gb large log file?

 

That's impossible, even if you set the on-demand scanner to log all files it shouldn't grow to such size. What's the exact name and location of that file?

 

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Eset\Eset Smart Security\Logs\epfwlog.dat

I tried deleting it but it was locked and I used "Unlocker" to unlock it and then I could delete it. After a restart it's now around 300kb in size

 

I'm having the same problem, it gets so bad my computer won't even register clicks randomly. This seems to only have started after the recent slew of windows updates, as at first I thought I should reinstall windows -- so I did.

Once windows was reinstalled (SP2), it was fine. However that was until I installed ESET SS, unfortunately at the time it would have been installing updates, so I can't confirm if the updates are related or if it's simply the newest version of ESET SS causing the problem.

I'm going to try reinstalling ESET as suggested in this thread, hopefully that helps.

 

GarretN: Could you please check your logfile, what size is it?

 

Hi Xophile: have you tried uninstalling v3.0.642 and upgrading to the new 3.0.650?
Maybe that could take care of your problem...
Also, It would be very useful to know what exactly you were doing when ekrn.exe spikes, maybe it is related to another software conflicting with ESS...

 

I have been running v 650 when the problem started.

Now after I deleted the big logfile it's all back to normal again.

The cpu spikes for ekrn.exe was occuring even when my computer was freshly booted with no other programs running. Even after 4 hours of constant idling it was still going on...

 

As a temporary workaround for you , simply uncheck the firewall logging , stop it . You'll know the firewall is working

 

Sorry for a stupid question but where the heck do yo disable logging completely?

 

In Advanced Mode -> Personal firewall -> IDS
at the bottom you'll see you have checkmarks for logging attacks and things like that . Simply remove the two ticks

 

My log file is now at a size of 167Mb, somethings must be wrong with ESS and the logging...

 

Maybe there's something wrong/weird with your network and the firewall is logging a lot of dropped connections, late packets, etc.
Or there's a conflict with your hardware/software.

 

lucas1985:

Well, I've been running Outpost Pro with no issues whatsoever before.

How can I check for dropped connections and late packets etc?

I'm on a 100/100 fiber broadband connection plugged directlyinto my wall